Passionate about IP! Since June 2003 the IPKat weblog has covered copyright, patent, trade mark, info-tech and privacy/confidentiality issues from a mainly UK and European perspective. The team is David Brophy, Birgit Clark, Merpel, Jeremy Phillips, Eleonora Rosati, Darren Smyth, Annsley Merelle Ward and Neil J. Wilkof. You're welcome to read, post comments and participate in our community. You can email the Kats here

For the half-year to 30 June 2015, the IPKat's regular team is supplemented by contributions from guest bloggers Suleman Ali, Tom Ohta and Valentina Torelli.

Regular round-ups of the previous week's blogposts are kindly compiled by Alberto Bellan.

Tuesday, 12 July 2005

The IPKat received this press release from the Commission. The full text is reproduced below.

IP/05/906

Brussels, 12 July 2005

Counterfeiting and piracy: the Commission proposes European criminal-law provisions to combat infringements of intellectual property rightsToday the European Commission adopted proposals for a directive and for a framework decision to combat infringements of intellectual property rights. The purpose of the proposed measures is to align national criminal law and improve European cooperation so as to deal effectively with counterfeiting and piracy activities, which are often carried out by criminal organisations. Counterfeiting and piracy, and infringements of intellectual property in general, have increased significantly in recent years and seriously undermine several sectors of the European economy.

Franco Frattini, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security, remarked that the new measures proposed by the Commission form the criminal law front to the fight against counterfeiting and piracy in Europe. Effective alignment of national criminal law in this domain, he declared, “forms a basic platform underpinning our joint efforts to eradicate these phenomena which are undermining the economy”. Criminal organisations are now investing in these activities which are often more lucrative than other types of trafficking and still carry light penalties. Counterfeiters and pirates jeopardise legitimate businesses and threaten innovation. Furthermore, in many cases, counterfeit goods pose a real danger to public health and safety.

The proposed measures apply to all types of infringements of intellectual property rights. Under the proposal for a directive, all intentional infringements of an intellectual property right on a commercial scale, and attempting, aiding or abetting and inciting such infringements are treated as criminal offences.

The proposal for a framework decision sets a threshold for criminal penalties applicable to the perpetrators of these offences: at least four years' imprisonment if the offence involves a criminal organisation or if it jeopardises public health and safety. The applicable fine must be at least EUR 100,000 to EUR 300,000 for cases involving criminal organisations or posing a risk to public health and safety. The proposal allows Member States to apply tougher penalties.

The Commission hopes that this clear political signal reflecting the determination to combat piracy and counterfeiting will be supported by concerted, long-term information campaigns by national and regional authorities and other interested parties to raise awareness, not only among key players in the fight against counterfeiting and piracy but also amongst the wider public as a whole.

Franco Frattini ponders the fate of another pirate ...

Looks like the Commission plans to get tough -- but are these fines tough enough when you consider the rewards enjoyed by successful pirates and the ease with which they earn them?

All these ideas tend to backfire. Assuming piracy will be prosecuted like car theft and so on... people will go on to Free Open Source Software. No point in paying many EURos for a full-blown graphic program when all you need is a GIMP. So I think such a law would be in the end benefitial. People would not just pirate software -- they would have to think if they want to pay for it and if whether there are free alternatives available.

...but there is always a risk of big companies using software patents to impose monopoly and kill alternatives...

I am not a lawyer, but counterfeiting (violating trademarks, falsely representing goods), and "piracy" (i.e. violating copyright) are different from patent infringment.

It is possible (even likely, if you are a programmer) to accidentally infringe a patent. Therefore patent infringement should never be regarded as a criminal offence.

One problem with politicians and lobbyists is that they tend to lump together "intellectual property rights" rather than properly distinguishing between copyright, patents, trade-marks etc. This is probably deliberate on their part.

Hi, you have a great blog here! I'm definitely going to bookmark you!I have a advertising direct email site. It pretty much covers advertising direct email related stuff. Check it out if you get time :-)

The IPKat's sidebar contents

Want to complain?If you feel that you have been unfairly prevented from posting a comment on one of this weblog's features, here's what you can do about it

The IPKat's cousins: some IP-friendly blogs for youThe IPKat lists his 'family' of IP blogs, some of which focus on specific rights, geographical zones, markets or interests

How many page-views?See how many times the pages of the IPKat weblog have been purr-viewed

The Kat that tweetsToo short to blog? Some news and views are still worth airing, thanks to Twitter

Want to receive the IPKat weblog by email?You can get each post, or a digest, sent direct to your favourite mailbox

Not just any old IPKatEvery so often, this feline creeps into the limelight

The IPKat's RSS feeding arrangementsFeedburner and all those other things ...

What you've been sayingHere are the most recent readers' comments on the IPKat's posts

The IPKat's Greatest Hits!Here are the five posts on the IPKat's weblog that have received the most attention from readers over the past 30 days

Has the Kat got your tongue?Some translation facilities for readers whose first language is not English, or who are just plain masochistic

Creative Commons licenceYou too can make use of this blog's contents, if you follow the rules

The IPKat ArchiveAncient posts, going back to June 2003

Want to complain?

If you have posted a comment to one of our blogposts and it hasn't appeared, it may be because it doesn't match our criteria for moderation -- essentially that readers' comments should not be obscene or defamatory; they should not consist of ad hominem attacks on members of the blog team or other comment-posters and they should be relevant to the blogpost on which they purport to comment.

If you feel that your comment should have been moderated, please email the IPKat at theipkat@gmail.com and let him know, since it may be that your comment has been misdirected into the Blogger software's Spam file.

In the event that there has been no software malfunction and that your post has been rejected, if you want to appeal against this decision please contact either (i) Dr Danny Friedmann of theIP Dragonweblog (ipdragon@gmail.com) or (ii) Professor Dennis Crouch of the Patently-O weblog (dcrouch@patentlyo.com). Danny or Dennis will review your complaint, preserving the confidentiality of your identity and will let both you and us know whether your complaint is justified.

If your complaint relates to bias or distortion, the IPKat suggests that you contact him initially, bearing in mind that he and Merpel are generally willing to host pieces by guest contributors even when their opinions are at odds with those of this blog's contributors.